Medical tourism has become something of a catch phrase in the modern media. Medical journals discuss medical tourism as a means of boistering a country’s medical industry. Travel organizations advertise the medical benefits available to tourists within a particular region. Medical tourism is praised as a fresh, modern way of helping to grow local economies by making their medical specialties available to tourists. But just what is this trend taking the medical industry by storm and changing the way we think about the accessibility of medicine?

Medical tourism is the practice of travelling for the purpose of taking advantage of a foreign medical system. It emerged with convenience of travel as airline and vehicle transportation became prominent and commonplace. The addage “The world is a small place” describes the attitude that facilitated medical tourism. It used to be common practice for people to stay within their own native region to receive medical care, but since medical tourism emerged, it is becoming more and more popular to consider the global medical market when selecting healthcare for one’s self or for their dependents. Even a number of developing nations, such as Mexico and Thailand, have significantly boistered their medical industries by openig them up to citizens of foreign countries.

Free health insurance or significantly cost reduced health insurance is typically only available to citizens or residents of any given country. However, that side of healthcare economy is also changing in light of medical tourism. Reasonably priced travel insurance policies are becoming available to those who want to travel abroad to receive healthcare. For those whom money is not an object, medical tourism is an older tradition, but in modern times, more and more medical tourism options are becoming available to those who are not independently wealthy. Many health industry professionals consider medical tourism to be the way of the future. It helps regional economies, enables a productive exchange of information and forms relationships across borders.

Medical tourism is a revolution to global medical practices. It enables world citizens to pick and choose which region of the world they solicit for medical services. The obvious benefit to this practice is that different countries and regions specialize in different medical services, so allowing people to travel to take advantage of foreign medical services benefits that traveler as well as the region.

Canada is one of many countries that embraces the practice of medical tourism. In fact, Canada and the United States alike are working to grow their medical tourism options as a way of sustaining their medical industries and of attracting travelers to their region. This has proven successful for Canada’s medical industry because it is one of global repute. Canadian medicine is known to be one of the best in the world. With access to the latest scientific advancements and technology, Canadian doctors are among the most respected in the global medical community. There are a number of surgeries, procedures and specialties found in Canadian medicine that are performed better than anywhere else on earth.

Tibetan citizens are able to take advantage of Canadian medical tourism by traveling to Canada and plugging into their medical system. The two countries have a good standing relationship with one another and there are no particular travel restrictions between them. Tibetans can either purchase travel insurance and use the Canadian medical system covered by insurance, or they can simply pay out of pocket for medical services. The average Tibetan is likely to purchase travel insurance as a majority of the population is not high income earning.

Tibetans have radically different medical practices from Canadians. The Canadian medical system is very Westernized, applying pharmaceuticals and prodecures to most ailments. In Tibet, medical practices are much more likely to involve holistic remedies and traditional therapies for musulo-skeletal issues. This means that both countries can greatly benefit from an exchange of information and an integration of medical knowledge.

Tibetans have a distinct culture, heritage and history. As a region of China with a history of having to fight for autonomy, Tibet is known on the world stage as a region to watch out for and offer solidarity to. Its native culture is one of renowned Buddhist spirituality. With these cultural and historic distinctions comes a unique health profile. When it comes to health matters, Tibetans are known to have certain strengths and certain weaknesses, some of which are a product of the Tibetan region and some of which are a produt of Tibetan society.

Some of the health strengths that Tibetans are known to possess are their high altitude functionality, strong lungs, physical abilities and organic Eastern medical remedies. Tibet is situated in a high altitude plataeu that leads the flanks of the Himalayas. Therefore, its residents are uniquely euipped to thrive in high altitude conditions thanks to centuries of evolution at a high altitude. Their lungs are bigger than the average world citizen’s, and their prowess for physical activity exceeds most other people’s. Tibet is the seat of Eastern medicine and represents the origins of holisic medical remedies.

However, the health prognosis for Tibet is not entirely positive. Tibetans are known to have health weaknesses as well as strengths, which include pulmonary conditions related to high altitude and a number of conditions that are found in developing nations the world over. There are some diseases that pose a threat to the general populous, such as malaria and hepatitis A and B, and some other conditions that are born of parasites and poor sanitation.

Tibetans have a rich and valuable history of practicing holistic medicine, but they can still greatly benefit from the advent of medical tourism. Medical tourism emerged in the twenty first century as a global trend and has revolutionized the way we think of modern medical practice. Rather than being limited to the medical provisions of one’s birth country and local health insurance, travel enables people to select medical services from the global marketplace where they can find a broad range of options to meet their needs.

Tibet is unlike anywhere else in the world, medically speaking. The diseases that plague Tibet are relative to its unique location on the globe: in the mountains at an average height of 3,500 meters. The most widespread diseases are of a pulmonary nature because the altitude is hard on the lungs. Most of Tibet is also very remote, with limited access to medical facilities. There are many political, social and economical factors that dictate the availability of healthcare in Tibet, but the bottom line is that Tibet currently does not have enough medical facilities or special medical knowledge to adequately treat the whole of the Tibetan population.

Many Tibetans are below the poverty line, particularly in remote villages, and cannot afford healthcare in their country. This would tend to indicate that they are unable to travel abroad as well, but Tibetan residents who do have the means to travel would be well advised to consider medical tourism. Medical tourism is the act of traveling abroad for the purpose of using foreign healthcare. Medical tourism is a recent trend, but a quickly expanding one. When a resident of a particular country does not have access to the specialty medical services they require, they either purchase a foreign health insurance policy or pay out of pocket for services in another country.

In the case of Tibetans, while there are medical facilities in Tibet that have pulmonary disease specialists, traveling to a country like Canada would create instant access to a number of pulmonary specialists who could give first, second and third opinions on a person’s condition. Pulmonary procedures and treatments can be performed by experienced physicians in state of the art medical facilities. Healthcare provisions also include general examinations, surgeries, x-rays, lab testing, specialty areas, naturopathy, mental health and substance abuse treatment in Canada. As a Tibetan citizen, it is understandably challenging to travel to Canada for any reason, but for those who have the means and are seeking more advanced healthcare provision than what is currently available to them, Canadian healthcare is a viable option.